They laughed when I sat down with my Damiano's Defense. Then, I kicked
sand in my opponent's face. They said that I could not win with the
Damiano's Defense, unless my opponent was a 1400 player.

They were wrong. I believe that I can win with this defense against
anybody rated less than 2100.

Here is the game. My opponent is a rapidfly improving young player who
is rated number 3 in the USA for his age group. He started to smirk
when he first saw my Damiano's Defense, but then he went into a deep
think before finally deciding to grab the pawn. Then, I knew I had
him. He played slowly and carefully, almost running out of time on his
clock, until he resigned just before he was going to be checkmated.

It's great that you played it in tournament play. Your comment of
anybody less than 2100 is valid and a rational few amateur players use
today. It's amazing how many under 2100s are completely booked up on GM
lines today. Your opening proves its effective to shock these people out
of their books where their middlegame prowess is put to the test.

I am going to look further into your Damiano's Defense. Do you have any
resources?

They laughed when I sat down with my Damiano's Defense. Then, I kicked
sand in my opponent's face. They said that I could not win with the
Damiano's Defense, unless my opponent was a 1400 player.

They were wrong. I believe that I can win with this defense against
anybody rated less than 2100.

Here is the game. My opponent is a rapidfly improving young player who
is rated number 3 in the USA for his age group. He started to smirk
when he first saw my Damiano's Defense, but then he went into a deep
think before finally deciding to grab the pawn. Then, I knew I had
him. He played slowly and carefully, almost running out of time on his
clock, until he resigned just before he was going to be checkmated.

Yes, we have been through this before. Sloan's original analysis of 8...h6 was:

However, Black does better with 8. ... h6. Now, if 9. Bxb7 Bd6 10. Qa5
Nc6 11. Bxc6 Rb8 and Black has compensation for the four pawns. For
example, the game could continue 12. Nc3 Nf6 13. e5 Bb4 14. Qa4 Ng4
and now I think Black has good winning chances.

Worse for White is 9. h5+ because after 9. ... Kh7 10. Bxb7 Bd6 11.
Qa5 Nc6 12. Bxc6 Rb8 13. Nc3 Nf6 and Black's king is safe while
White's king is stranded in the center.

I must admit that I have never actually played Damiano's Defense, but
I think it could be played with some success.

Sam Sloan

To which I replied:

In the line with 8...h6, instead of the pedestrian 12.Nc3, 12.e5!
creates immediate problems because Be4+ would be embarrassing. Black
can try to deal with this tactically by 12...Qg5 (using the pin on the
opposite queen), but after the relatively straightforward sequence of
13.Be4+ Bf5 14.exd6 Bxe4 15.Qxg5 hxg5 16.dxc7 Rc8 17.d3 Bxg2 18.Rg1
Bb7 19.Rxg5 Rxc7 20.Nc3 white emerges 4 pawns up. While I will
concede that black will probably win the h5 pawn, the extra three
should still suffice.